LONDON, Aug 25 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed shock Wednesday after two near-simultaneous plane crashes in Russia that left 89 people dead, and extended his sympathies to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I was shocked to hear about the two air disasters last night," Blair said in a statement.
"On behalf of the British government and people I would like to express my deep condolences to those injured or bereaved."
The planes departed within about an hour of each other from the same Moscow airport late Tuesday bound for destinations in southern Russia and went down at almost precisely the same moment in two regions south of the Russian capital.
The disaster fueled terrorism jitters in Russia ahead of a key vote in its separatist republic of Chechnya.
Blair's statement was one of his first public acts upon returning from a summer holiday. His staff would not say whether the prime minister was back in his Downing Street office already.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also wrote to his counterpart Sergei Lavrov Wednesday, repeating Blair's statement and adding: "I would like to add my own personal condolences."